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Hyundai, in a major event in South Korea, has unveiled its engine making concepts for the next eight years, as part of its 'Next Generation' plans. The Korean giant reckons that conventional petrol and diesel engines will remain dominant up to around 2025, after which battery and plugin hybrid will take over.
Hyundai is going to invest in the creation of a new 'Smart Stream' family of engines, both petrol and diesel, and claims that these will see thermal efficiency rise to as much as 50 per cent, or about the current level of the best hybrid engines. (Thermal efficiency is a measure of how much of the burned petrol or diesel goes to power the engine, and how much is lost as waste heat.) The engines will also be smaller and lighter than the current 'Gamma' engine series. There will also be a new Continuously Variable Valve Duration (CVVD) system, which will allow the engines to switch between conventional Otto ignition cycles (for power) and fuel-sipping Atkinson cycle. A new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is also part of the Smart Stream lineup, which will eventually includes ten petrol engines and six diesels, all based around the same 1.6-litre core model.
Beyond that, Hyundai is also planning to expand its plugin hybrid lineup (the first of which, the Ioniq plugin, goes on sale in Ireland this week), and to create battery EV electric vehicles with higher density batteries and greater one-charge range.
Hydrogen fuel cells will also be part of the future Hyundai lineup, in spite of doubts expressed by some car makers over both the cost of installing a H2 fuel infrastructure and the lack of environmentally friendly hydrogen production. Hyundai has had a fuel cell vehicle, based on the old ix35, on sale already, and claims that its next-generation H2 car will have 163hp and a tank range of 800km.